When a celebrity dies, the mourning process is essentially formulaic: There's the natural doubt, the sad confirmation, followed by public mourning. Those close to the celebrity are asked for their reactions and memories, retrospectives are sewn together from the star's achievements and life events.

The death is a headline on the gossip site, a constant refrain for the news channels. In all fairness, the conversations are usually positive, respectful -- after all, these stars are real people, with families and loved ones and private lives. But while their deaths are tragic, why do we, as a public, feel the need to mourn?

"There are three topics that Americans are fascinated with," he told HLN. "Birth, death and marriages. And we tend to go overboard with all of them. You hear 'Bridezilla' stories, you see the paparazzi frenzy over celebrity baby pictures, and when it comes to death, we see people at their best or worst."

When Walker died Saturday, #RIPPaulWalker trended on Twitter. People referenced their favorite memories of him, even if it was just a recollection of, say, his supporting role in the '90s romantic comedy "She's All That." Some recalled actually meeting Walker, fleeting encounters that would place their relationship with the actor at the smallest possible level above a stranger.

"It could be some obscure D-list actor," Murray says. "But when they die, people post these messages as though this was their favorite actor that ever lived. I think the reason people do it, it's kind of like acknowledging to the public that you were impacted by this person's life in some capacity."

"It's always interesting to watch, since we're so fascinated with death, it's been so easy for people to set up these hoaxes," says Murray. "We're so quick to pull out the black veil and tissues. Social media, in addition to giving everybody this place to mourn, it has also killed off countless personalities who are, in fact, still alive."

In Walker's case, however, the rumors were true. And in the atmosphere of grief that followed, there arose a natural curiosity for more information. "There is a segment of the media that plays into the emotionalism of celebrity deaths," Murray says. He noted that, since Walker's untimely passing, entertainment sites have been saturated with stories of the star's life and death. "Sometimes the media creates a demand for celebrity death coverage that plays into the insatiable appetites of these fans, and that appetite can be overzealous."

And in the case of Jackson and other megastars gone too soon, death is a highly marketable venture. "Media artists see their biggest sales in death," says Murray. "There's something about having this connection to somebody in death that makes people communicate and consume in extravagant ways."

'Everybody becomes a mourner'

James Gandolfini. Lee Thompson Young. Cory Monteith. These are just a few of the celebrities that have passed away in 2013. With each death came the attendant mourning, the #RIPs, and the remembrance montages, all of the public emotions boiling together in the crucible of social media. It is a thoroughly modern phenomenon, this way of mourning, and it could be no more than a natural extension of the way we've always done it. Only now, while we watch, and mourn, the world is watching (and mourning) right back.

"Before the invention of social media, [discussing death] was all table talk," Murray says. "You had to get on the telephone, you had to reach out to someone. Social media has made it so that you can have an immediate impact. Everybody becomes a mourner. You may not be able to go to this person's funeral, but you can take a moment to act out and express something about the person's life."